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March 30, 2020

March 29, 2020

Turkey - Coronavarus: Turkey’s coronavirus death toll rises to 108 as confirmed cases total 7,402

A total of 70 patients have recovered from COVID-19 and discharged from hospitals since the beginning of the outbreak on March 11, according to the ministry's data, which said 445 patients remained in treatment at intensive care units.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan late on Friday announced new measures to combat the spread of the virus, including the suspension of all overseas flights have been and intercity travel  by permit obtained from governorates.

Recreational sites will be closed during weekends, and large groups will not be allowed in on weekdays. The governors of Turkey’s 30 largest cities, including Istanbul and Ankara, were granted greater powers to implement the limitations, Erdoğan announced.

Erdoğan also said that the public and private sectors will switch to a flexible working system with minimum personnel. Soldiers coming in or leaving the army will have to comply with the 14-day quarantine rule, he said.

Read more at: Turkey’s coronavirus death toll rises to 108 as confirmed cases total 7,402 - live blog | Ahval

March 28, 2020

EU -The Netherlands: Dutch Exceptionalism: Will Holland's Looser Corona Policies Pay Off?

Off?

One EU country after the other is moving to restrict public life. The Dutch government has opted for less drastic measures, hoping for herd immunity and relying on the common sense of its people. But the country has still had to make adjustments to its policies.

The Big Bazar in Winterswijk is, as usual, full of "Big Deals!" despite the coronavirus. Plastic footballs, clothespins for hanging laundry, flower pots and various other things are for sale at the store in the Dutch border town. There’s a stand with jackets in front of the clothing shop next door and the drug store Kruidvat across the street has a special offer on creme. People seem relaxed as they stroll through the pedestrian zone and there's not a face mask to be seen. If you visited Winterswijk last Saturday, you could have been forgiven for thinking that the pandemic doesn’t even exist here. But just 10 kilometers away, in the town of Vreden on the German side of the border, almost all the stores have been closed for several days.

Opposition politicians in the Netherlands have been highly critical of the strategy. "Many Dutch people feel like they are being made part of a big experiment,” Lodwijk Asscher, the head of the country’s center-left Social Democratic Party has said. Right-wing radical politician Geert Wilders has said: "Rutte is playing Russian roulette with our people. Many people will get sick as a result. People will die.” Scientists believe that 60 to 70 percent of the population would have to come into contact with the virus to achieve herd immunity, the equivalent of more than 10 million Dutch people. Even with a low mortality among the young and the fittest, this would mean thousands of deaths. And the health system would soon be at its limits.

Read more: Dutch Exceptionalism: Will Holland's Looser Corona Policies Pay Off? - DER SPIEGEL

March 27, 2020

Food Shortages - Coronavirus measures could cause global food shortage, UN warns


Protectionist measures by national governments during the coronavirus crisis could provoke food shortages around the world, the UN’s food body has warned.

Harvests have been good and the outlook for staple crops is promising, but a shortage of field workers brought on by the virus crisis and a move towards protectionism – tariffs and export bans – mean problems could quickly appear in the coming weeks, Maximo Torero, chief economist of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, told the Guardian.

“The worst that can happen is that governments restrict the flow of food,” he said. “All measures against free trade will be counterproductive. Now is not the time for restrictions or putting in place trade barriers. Now is the time to protect the flow of food around the world.”

Read more at: Coronavirus measures could cause global food shortage, UN warns | Global development | The Guardian

March 26, 2020

Germany and the Netherlands: Corona Virus: Germany and the Netherlands seem to fight off the virus better than most. Here’s why - by Rupert Steiner

The Netherlands and Germany both showed glimmers of hope in the battle to combat coronavirus on Wednesday, as the numbers of cases in New York rose rapidly.

Data from Germany shows just 0.4% of people who tested positive for the virus have passed away, much less than the 9.5% in Italy and 4.3% in France. In the Netherlands growth in transmissions of the virus have slowed significantly.

Giving evidence in front of the Dutch Parliament Jaap van Dissel, boss of the Netherlands National Institute of Health, said: “The exponential growth of the outbreak has in all probability been brought to a halt,” with the infection only being passed on at a rate of one infected person to another.

If proven, this would be a significant achievement. In some countries, the spread from one infected person has been to as many as five or more. In the U.S., the state of New York had 5,146 new cases
confirmed on Wednesday, and more than 30,000 have tested positive.

The low death rate in Germany has confounded experts, and it could be due to different causes. The possible explanation is that doctors aggressively screened citizens who were either fit or sick early on at the time they took the test, at a rate not seen in other countries, who only had the resources to test the very sick. This have skewed the compaarison with other countries, because those who were fit when tested and had caught the virus were more likely to suffer from a mild case and survive.

Germany also was more effective than most countries at tracking and tracing contacts of infected patients before the spread took hold, effectively containing it better than other countries.

Another more random theory is that the first Germans to contract the virus caught it mixing with other nationalities while skiing, which suggested that they were fit and active, and less likely to succumb to the disease.

Read more at: Germany and the Netherlands seem to fight off the virus better than most. Here’s why - MarketWatch

March 24, 2020

EU - Corona Virus:: 200,000+ coronavirus cases in Europe

The number of coronavirus cases in Europe has surpassed 200,000, AFP reports citing its own tally. Italy and Spain have been hit worst by the pandemic on the continent.

Earlier the World Health Organization warned that the pace of the disease spread was increasing worldwide. It took just four days for the number of global cases to grow from 200,000 to over 300,000.

Read more at: 200,000+ coronavirus cases in Europe - AFP tally — RT World News

The Netherlands: Coranavirus Repatriation €10 million fund launched to bring Dutch Citizens back to the Netherlands

Travelers stuck outside of the Netherlands due to flights being halted or severely limited in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic have a new option to get help to return home. A ten-million euro fund was launched on Monday to provide assistance to stranded fliers, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Monday.

Essentially, passengers will contribute 300 euros for their own repatriation if returning back from the European Union or 20 countries near the EU. The personal contribution rises to 900 euros for countries further away from the list of EU-adjacent countries.

"We need to do our utmost to get these people home safely," said Stef Blok, the Dutch foreign minister, of the complicated situation. "Because of the huge impact of the coronavirus, this group in particular really has nowhere else to turn."

Read more at: €10 million fund launched to bring people back to Netherlands | NL Times

March 23, 2020

The Netherlands: Total coronavirus cases quadruple in a week to 4,204; Death toll reaches 179

 Some 43 coronavirus patients died in the Netherlands since Saturday, with the nation now mourning the loss of 179 people, public health agency RIVM said on Sunday. The agency also announced that another 573 tested positive for the virus, pushing the total number of diagnosed patients to 4,204, nearly four-times the number of patients recorded on March 15.

Just one week ago, the total number of patients in the Netherlands was 1,077. By that date, a total of 20 people who tested positive for the virus had died, a figure which has increased by 800 percent in the past seven days.

The dead ranged in age from 57 to 97, a change from the range of 63 to 95 years of age reported by the agency on Friday.

Another 152 were identified as being treated in hospital since Saturday. The number of people that have required hospitalization since the first patient in the Netherlands was diagnosed in February equaled 988.

On Saturday, there were 354 people being treated in intensive care units across the Netherlands, which has 1,150 ICU beds in total. The government said the total number of ICU beds could be quickly scaled up to 1,500, and another 500 could be created by reallocating resources like ventilators present at various clinics.

Noord-Brabant again saw the biggest increase in people testing positive, with 224 new patients raising its total to 1,404. Zuid-Holland demonstrated an increase of 99 people testing positive there, bringing that province's total to 585, while Noord-Holland (535) showed an increase of 71 patients. Overall, the percentage of the country's total patients resident in Noord-Brabant sat at about 33 percent, a slight increase from Saturday's figures. Ten days ago, Noord-Brabant was home to about 45 percent of coronavirus patients.

The Netherlands: Total coronavirus cases quadruple in a week to 4,204; Death toll reaches 179 | NL Times

March 22, 2020

EU Unity Needed More than Ever: EU leaders need to be communicating a shared vision to get us through the coronavirus crisis

The role of the European institutions has been seriously questioned during the past two weeks. As a passionate European, this hurts to see. Despite the efforts of the European Commission to help and to intervene in the crisis, member states have decided rather to take a national approach and to focus less on coordination and solidarity. The fact that the European institutions are not being seen as problem solvers tells a relevant and consequential story. Moreover, recent developments speak volumes about how much trust national leaders actually place - undeservingly - in the President of the European Commission, the commissioners and their teams.

The Commision has the opportunity to step up its communications game, since nobody else is really standing up for Europe (locally as well as globally) in these critical times. Before we achieve “Global Europe,” let us secure “Community Europe.” The Commission should act without expecting any further mandate since Europe is, as Emmanuel Macron put it on Monday in regard to France, "at war." The continent is now, after all, the new global "epicentre" of COVID-19, so communication will be paramount and the way the EU does so on key issues will matter.

First, they should concentrate on EU values and delivery amid health concerns. More important than the political relations between member states and the European institutions is the sentiment that European solidarity is as scarce as medical masks and scrubs. The initial response to the Italian call for help is not something Europe should be proud of. The option overwhelmingly embraced by national governments to close borders also highlights the difficulty of coordination at the EU level: when panic comes, we go national. Maybe expectations are too high and the crisis too deep, but, at the end of the day, what remains is the perception that every country is on its own. Perhaps this impression is wrong or will be changed as events unfold. But this should be part of a serious conversation about what European solidarity means in good and, more importantly, bad times. Here again, the European Commission - and empathically, its leader - should lead in the months to come. In times of crisis, people follow examples: think Churchill (alas, Brexit!) not chilling out.

Second, the economy. More broadly, the entire debacle over medical products and equipment brings a key question about economic globalisation and global value chains. The COVID-19 pandemic brings to the fore the idea that Europe cannot externalise everything - a reframing of strategic autonomy to include this is in order. Maintaining production capacity and facilities for essential products is fundamental, and here the strategic interest is more important than the generous principles of open trade and free markets. It is hard to say what will be the dominant view at the end of the crisis, but, at this moment, everyone is asking for expansion of the State and for more state interventions, putting the EU and more widely, the liberal democratic economic model, under stress.

Read more at: EU leaders need to be communicating a shared vision to get us through the coronavirus crisis ǀ View | Euronews

March 21, 2020

Netherlands ranked sixth happiest country in the world

The Netherlands is
ranked the world’s sixth happiest country in the latest World Happiness
Report.

Although the country is once again one of the jolliest in the world, it
has slipped one place since last year, and is – according to the report
based on data from the Gallup World Poll – slightly less contented than
it was between 2008 and 2012.

However, only in Finland (first), Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland and
Norway are people happier.

The study assesses factors including the healthy life expectancy, social
support, freedom and average income in the countries, alongside the
levels of corruption, trust, generosity and people’s own ‘life
evaluation’ – which includes their personal feeling of safety.

The Netherlands is categorised alongside ‘Nordic countries’ and the
researchers say that it does better than Europe as a whole because of
levels of social and institutional trust, as well as social connection.
However, as in some other developed highly economies, people feel less
happy in Dutch cities than they do in rural areas.


Read more at DutchNews.nl:
The Netherlands is
ranked the world’s sixth happiest country in the latest World Happiness
Report.

Although the country is once again one of the jolliest in the world, it
has slipped one place since last year, and is – according to the report
based on data from the Gallup World Poll – slightly less contented than
it was between 2008 and 2012.

However, only in Finland (first), Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland and
Norway are people happier.

The study assesses factors including the healthy life expectancy, social
support, freedom and average income in the countries, alongside the
levels of corruption, trust, generosity and people’s own ‘life
evaluation’ – which includes their personal feeling of safety.

The Netherlands is categorised alongside ‘Nordic countries’ and the
researchers say that it does better than Europe as a whole because of
levels of social and institutional trust, as well as social connection.
However, as in some other developed highly economies, people feel less
happy in Dutch cities than they do in rural areas.


Read more at DutchNews.nl:
The Netherlands is ranked the world’s sixth happiest country in the latest World Happiness Report.

Although the country is once again one of the jolliest in the world, it has slipped one place since last year, and is – according to the report based on data from the Gallup World Poll – slightly less contented than it was between 2008 and 2012.

However, only in Finland (first), Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway are people happier. The study assesses factors including the healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom and average income in the countries, alongside the levels of corruption, trust, generosity and people’s own ‘life evaluation’ – which includes their personal feeling of safety.

The Netherlands is categorised alongside ‘Nordic countries’ and the researchers say that it does better than Europe as a whole because of levels of social and institutional trust, as well as social connection.

However, as in some other developed highly economies, people feel less happy in Dutch cities than they do in rural areas.

Read more at: Netherlands ranked sixth happiest country in the world - DutchNews.nl

March 20, 2020

The Netherlands: Blood banks to test Covid-19 herd immunity in Netherlands: report

Using a new blood test, researchers from the Dutch blood banks under Sanquin will carry out a national population screening for coronavirus Covid-19. The aim is to find out how widely the virus is spread and how quickly society is building up immunity against it, AD reports. The researchers will test the blood of thousands of blood and plasma donors to find out whether those

Read more at:
https://nltimes.nl/2020/03/19/blood-banks-test-covid-19-herd-immunity-netherlands-report

March 19, 2020

Netherlands: Closes Sex Shops, Cannabis Cafes Due To Coronavirus; Bike Shops Stay Open

In an effort to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus the Netherlands is joining other European countries by closing all schools and many cafes, announced Dutch health minister Bruno Bruins in a televised news conference on March 15.

Sex clubs, cannabis cafes, saunas, and some shops will be shuttered from 6pm on March 15, and Bruins said it is likely they will not be allowed to reopen until April 6 at the earliest. Bicycle shops—an essential service in the “bicycle kingdom”—are not part of the closure plans.

Meanwhile, leisure cycling is facing restrictions in Spain and Italy.

Read more: Netherlands Closes Sex Shops, Cannabis Cafes Due To Coronavirus; Bike Shops Stay Open

March 17, 2020

Fast Food and Corona Virus: McDonald's shifts to take-out only mode over coronavirus

McDonald's Corp. said late Monday it was turning its U.S. company-owned restaurants into take-out only in the wake of the COVID-19 coronavirus beginning...

Read more at:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/mcdonalds-shifts-to-take-out-only-mode-over-coronavirus-2020-03-16

March 16, 2020

The Netherlands on lockdown: schools, cafes and sports clubs shut

All schools and daycare centres in the Netherlands are to be shut from Monday until at least April 6 in an effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus, ministers decided on Sunday after a crisis meeting with health experts and education officials. In addition, cafes, restaurants, sex clubs, cannabis cafes, saunas and sports clubs will all close their doors at 6pm on Sunday for three weeks, health minister Bruno Bruins said in a televised news conference.

The move is a u-turn on Friday’s position, when the government said that schools and daycare centres should remain open so that essential workers can continue to do their jobs.

Read more at: The Netherlands on lockdown: schools, cafes and sports clubs shut - DutchNews.nl

March 14, 2020

Coronavirus: 'Viruses don't carry passports:' Why travel bans won't work to stop spread of COVID-19

U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to restrict travel from most European countries to try to contain what he called a "foreign virus" isn't grounded in science and breaks international law, experts say. 

 Read more at 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/covid19-travel-bans-1.5495919

March 13, 2020

The Netherlands: Foreign Minister Blok to review travel advice to US in wake of Trump's ban

The Dutch government is to review its travel advice to the US after president Donald Trump imposed a 30-day travel ban on all 26 countries in the Schengen zone, including the Netherlands.

The ban will take effect from 5am on Saturday and apply to all non-US citizens. Some tour operators, including TUI, cancelled trips immediately because of concerns that their customers would not be able to return home. Foreign affairs minister Stef Blok, who is in Indonesia with the king and queen on a state visit, said the ban on travel from Europe was ‘potentially very disruptive’. 

‘We have a lot of traffic in terms of people and trade,’ he said. ‘We are now assessing whether we need to adjust our travel advice to the United States’.

Read more: Foreign Minister Blok to review travel advice to US in wake of Trump's ban - DutchNews.nl

March 12, 2020

EU-US Relations: U.S. to Ban Travel From EU for 30 Days with the exception of Britain due to coronavirus -

In a televised address 0n Wednesday 11th of March  Trump said travel from 26 European countries would be suspended for the next 30 days.Britain would be excluded/

But he said the "strong but necessary" restrictions would not apply to the UK, where 460 cases of the virus have now been confirmed.

here are 1,135 confirmed cases of the virus across the US, with 38 deaths.

"To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe," Mr Trump said from the Oval Office on Wednesday evening.

"The new rules will go into effect Friday at midnight," he added. The travel order does not apply to US citizens.

Note Almere - Digest : Unbelievable, what a confusing message. No details of the fundamentals in his speech. No empathy, no common sense advice, just blaming other countries, and band-aid solutions.It sounded more like a man who was unhappy that it was raining on his parade. What is next? Marshall law, so Trump can become the first official US dictator?

Almere-Digest

March 9, 2020

US Economy Meltdown: Dow plunges over 2,000 points, oil collapses amid price war and coronavirus - by Jonathan Garber

U.S. equity markets tumbled Monday after an oil price war broke out between Saudi Arabia and Russia and amid new cases of coronavirus, especially in America.

TickerSecurityLastChangeChange %
I:DJIDOW JONES AVERAGES23851.02-2,013.76-7.79%
SP500S&P 5002758.65-213.72-7.19%
I:COMPNASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX7985.59538-590.02-6.88%




The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed over 2,000 points lower, coming back from a point drop of more than 2,150 points, or 8.2 percent, at session lows while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were lower by 7.9 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively.

Monday's sharp selloff, which caused the major averages to be temporarily halted due to volatility, caused the New York Federal Reserve to increase its daily cash injections into the banking system to $150 billion from $100 billion.

The stock-market's steep slide comes after a production dispute between OPEC members, led by Saudi Arabia, and Russia sent West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the U.S. benchmark, plunging by as much as 33.8 percent, the most since the outbreak of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, to a low of $27.34 a barrel in overnight trading. The energy component finished the day down 24.59 percent at $31.13 a barrel.

Note EU-Digest: This is what happens when the US elects a President who is a complete "ignoramas", lies like there is no tomorrow, says he knows more about the Corona Virus than the medical profession, brags he is the best deal maker in the world, wants only "yes men" in his cabinet, and unfortunately, that is "only the top of the Trump iceberg drama".

Read more at: Dow plunges over 2,000 points, oil collapses amid price war and coronavirus | Fox Business

The Netherlands: Two more die of coronavirus in Netherlands, total stands at 265

Two more patients in the Netherlands have died as a result of contracting coronavirus, according to latest figures from the public health institute RIVM. In its latest update on Sunday the RIVM said the number of confirmed infections stands at 265, a rise of 77 since Saturday.

The figure is the biggest increase for a single day, although in percentage terms it is smaller than Saturday’s rise (41.0% compared to 46.9%).

The latest casualties are an 86-year-old man who was admitted to the Bernhoven Hospital in Uden, Noord-Brabant, and an 82-year-old man who was being treated in the Zuyderland Medical Centre in Sittard-Geleen, Limburg. The source of both infections is being investigated.

The RIVM said 144 of the 265 patients who had tested positive for coronavirus had travelled abroad, 131 of them to northern Italy. In 47 cases the source of the infection is not yet known.

 Read more at: Two more die of coronavirus in Netherlands, total stands at 265 - DutchNews.nl

March 8, 2020

Spain-Coronavirus: Spain confirms almost 400 cases as death toll jumps to eight

There have now been eight deaths connected to the coronavirus in Spain, authorities confirmed late on Friday, as the number of confirmed cases continues to rise. Here's the latest news.

Read more at:
https://www.thelocal.es/20200307/spain-reports-first-coronavirus-death

March 7, 2020

Construction starts in Netherlands on longest cycling bridge in Europe

Construction has started in the Netherlands on what will be Europe’s longest bridge for cyclists and pedestrians –stretching over a lake, canal, motorway and nature reserve – to connect a new village to its closest town.

he so-called “Blue carpet bridge”, or Blauwe Loper, will be 800 metres long, but there are plans to ultimately extend it to 1km in length. The first phase is scheduled for completion by next Christmas.

The €6.5m ($7.00 m) bridge, which rises at a comfortable 2.5% gradient at its steepest, will connect Winschoten, in Groningen province, with Blauwestad, a new village being built on reclaimed land.

The bridge will only be accessible to cyclists and pedestrians – and bats. Its LED lighting has been designed to assist the creatures in finding their way from the nearby nature reserve to the Oldambtmeer lake. The bridge will also be painted in “bat-friendly” green.

Read more Construction starts in Netherlands on longest cycling bridge in Europe | World news | The Guardian

March 6, 2020

Coronavirus panic buying in Japan, France, Netherlands, and Poland

As the coronavirus spreads, Business Insider sent some of its international editors to take photos inside local stores where items are low in stock.

Read more at:
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-panic-buying-france-japan-netherlands-poland-2020-3

March 5, 2020

Climate Control: Europe Looks To Pass 2050 Net Zero Carbon Goal Into Law

w

The European Commission proposed on Wednesday enshrining the European Green Deal’s commitment for carbon neutrality by 2050 into legislation, as part of the European Union’s heightened focus on climate action and policy.

Under a European Climate Law, the 2050 carbon neutrality target would become legally binding, and all EU institutions and member states will be collectively bound to take the necessary measures at EU and national level to meet that target.

The Climate Law would enshrine into law the EU’s political pledge to become climate neutral by 2050, the Commission said, noting that the proposed law is a crucial part of the European Green Deal, which the EU’s executive arm proposed at the end of last year.

“We are acting today to make the EU the world’s first climate neutral continent by 2050,” the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The Climate Law is the legal translation of our political commitment, and sets us irreversibly on the path to a more sustainable future. It is the heart of the European Green Deal. It offers predictability and transparency for European industry and investors. And it gives direction to our green growth strategy and guarantees that the transition will be gradual and fair,” von der Leyen noted.

Note EU-Digest: In the meantime yesterday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to expand the scope of its already dangerous plan to limit the science the agency can consider when developing critical public health and environmental safeguards.

EPA’s original “Censored Science” proposal, released in April 2018 by former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, would effectively bar the agency from considering critical research when making decisions around protecting human health and the environment. The newly-released supplemental proposal would apply these restrictions to an even wider array of scientific studies, further imperiling EPA’s ability to protect our health and ecosystems from environmental harms including climate change, air pollution, water pollution and other toxic chemical exposures.

Read more at: Europe Looks To Pass 2050 Net Zero Carbon Goal Into Law | OilPrice.com

March 4, 2020

Netherlands: coronavirus total rises to 24 with new Covid-19 cases confirmed

 Public health institute RIVM confirmed six new coronavirus diagnoses in the Netherlands. These patients were reported to the RIVM on Monday and are all currently quarantined at home, the health service said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also updated its travel advice for Japan due to the virus.

According to the RIVM, a total of 24 people have now been diagnosed with Covid-19 in the Netherlands. "Almost all persons diagnosed with the coronavirus are travelers from northern Italy or are family contacts of a previous patient," the health service said. "The source of the infection is still unknown for a few patients. This is still under investigation."

Local departments of municipal health service GGD are currently investigating who the new patients were in contact with.

A spokesperson for the RIVM told NL Times that around 200 people have been tested for Covid-19 in the country so far. The service is working on an interactive map so that Netherlands residents can better track affected areas.

 Read more at: Netherlands coronavirus total rises to 24 with new Covid-19 cases confirmed | NL Times

March 2, 2020

Coronavirus latest: Germany′s COVID-19 cases almost double

The number of coronavirus cases in Germany has risen sharply; official data shows infections have reached 129, compared with 66 on Saturday. More than half are in North Rhine-Westphalia. Follow the latest from DW here.

March 1, 2020

Taliban-US Deal IS A Fake Deal: "So-Called ‪'Peace Deal' Is Anything But": Critics Warn US-Taliban Deal Exposes Fallacies of Endless War Paradigm

The agreement, warned Rep. Barbara Lee, "leaves thousands of troops in Afghanistan and lacks the critical investments in peacebuilding, human-centered development, or governance reform needed to rebuild Afghan society."

A Fake Deal ? USA-Taliban-Afghanistan
The Taliban have agreed to sever ties with al-Qaida and other international terror groups and sit down for peace talks with other Afghans, including a government they have always denounced as a US puppet. In return, Washington will start a phased withdrawal of troops.

Troop levels will be cut to 8,600 over the next 135 days and five bases will be closed. If both sides keep to their commitments, all U.S. military forces could leave Afghanistan by spring 2021, although Washington is thought to want to keep intelligence operatives on the ground fighting Isis and al-Qaida.

According to Lee, nobody should be fooled into thinking that this is a "peace" agreement.

"It leaves thousands of troops in Afghanistan and lacks the critical investments in peacebuilding, human-centered development, or governance reform needed to rebuild Afghan society," the Congresswoman said.

As peace advocates have been saying since even before the U.S. invasion took place in 2001, following the attacks of September 11, there was never a military solution to the situation in Afghanistan. That remains true today.

"Two decades of trying to bomb our way to peace have made clear: there is no U.S. military solution in Afghanistan," said Stephen Miles, executive director of Win Without War, in a statement.

While the reduction in U.S. military presence "is a welcome step," Stephens said, the agreement "utterly fails to confront the underlying logic of military occupation, lacks any strategy for long-term peace, and falls far short of accountability and justice. It is no 'peace deal.'"

Like Lee, Stephens said a deal that leaves nearly two-thirds of current U.S. forces in Afghanistan for 'counterterrorism' purposes—"bringing levels down to about where they were when Trump entered office"—cannot be considered a peace deal. While the drawdown can be considered a positive development, he said, the agreement "is far from an end to endless war—and further still from anything that would ensure stability, peace, and justice after decades of violence."

Read more at: "So-Called ‪'Peace Deal' Is Anything But": Critics Warn US-Taliban Deal Exposes Fallacies of Endless War Paradigm | Common Dreams News

EU Threat of Corona Virus: Coronavirus could be a bigger test for the EU than the refugee crisis

The coronavirus pounded the European Union this week with the biggest test of its political, economic and social fabric since the refugee crisis of five years ago.

Most dramatically, the Turkish government this week backed off from its commitment made in 2016, in return for 6 billion euros in EU funds, to prevent Syrian refugees from entering Europe. That followed a Thursday airstrike by Russian-backed Syrian forces in Syria’s Idlib province, killing at least 33 Turkish troops, with some turkish sources claiming more than 150 troops killed.

Even as Turkey ordered police, coast guard and border security officials to allow would-be refugees to pass into the EU, Bulgaria responded by sending an extra 1,000 troops to the frontier with Turkey and Greek police launched smoke grenades at one crossing to dissuade migrants.

Containing pathogens is a much different business than managing waves of refugees. However, what unites the two issues is how dramatically the European Union’s response will shape public attitudes about the institution’s relevance, responsiveness, and effectiveness at a crucial historic moment.

The impact of coronavirus on Europe’s future has the potential to be even more significant than the migrant crisis, particularly as it unfolds in almost biblical fashion atop a plague of other European maladies.

Tourist wearing protective respiratory mask tours outside the Colosseo monument were a common sight in the center of Rome..
The coronavirus pounded the European Union this week with the biggest test of its political, economic and social fabric since the refugee crisis of five years ago.

The ripples from the European migrant crisis of 2015 continue until today with its dual shock to the EU’s unity and domestic politics. It triggered a wave of populism and nationalism, the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU, and Germany’s political fragmentation behind the weakening of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Even as Turkey ordered police, coast guard and border security officials to allow would-be refugees to pass into the EU, Bulgaria responded by sending an extra 1,000 troops to the frontier with Turkey and Greek police launched smoke grenades at one crossing to dissuade migrants.

Containing pathogens is a much different business than managing waves of refugees. However, what unites the two issues is how dramatically the European Union’s response will shape public attitudes about the institution’s relevance, responsiveness, and effectiveness at a crucial historic moment.

The impact of coronavirus on Europe’s future has the potential to be even more significant than the migrant crisis, particularly as it unfolds in almost biblical fashion atop a plague of other European maladies.

They include, but by no means are limited to: economic slowdown and possible recession (made more likely by coronavirus), the rise of populism and nationalism (stoked as well by the virus), disagreements about how to handle trade talks with a departing United Kingdom (which start Monday), internecine fights over the European budget, and ongoing German leadership crisis and French social upheaval.

The coronavirus morphed this past week into an increasingly global phenomenon that experts agree can no longer be contained. The hit to stock markets was $6 trillion, the biggest weekly fall since the 2008 financial crisis. By Friday, the WHO reported more than 78,000 cases and more than 2,790 deaths ion China – and 70 deaths in 52 other countries.

In Europe, what began as northern Italian phenomenon – where there have been more than 800 infections – has now reached Spain, Greece, Croatia, France, the UK, Switzerland, Romania, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, North Macedonia, and San Marino.

For Europe the Corana Virus is certainly a wake-up call and a national European Medical Emergency. 

Read more at: Coronavirus could be a bigger test for the EU than the refugee crisis